The present invention relates in general to devices for maintaining medical equipment, and more particularly to a wall-mounted, racklike device for disinfecting and storing elongated medical instruments such as endoscopes and the like.
With particular reference to endoscopy, after each use of an endoscope it is a common practice to coil up the flexible, elongated insertion tube portion thereof and place it in its coiled condition into a bucketlike basin containing, for example, up to a gallon or more of relatively expensive disinfecting liquid such as glutaraldehyde solution. After a predetermined soak time period, the insertion tube portion is removed from the basin, uncoiled, and, then rinsed with water to remove disinfecting liquid therefrom. This prior art endoscope disinfecting procedure is disadvantageous for two primary reasons.
Firstly, the flexible insertion tube portion of the endoscope typically contains a relatively fragile, elongated, fiber optic bundle that can be damaged by repeated coiling and uncoiling of the insertion tube such as during routine disinfecting procedures as noted above. Major endoscope manufacturers recommend that, to the extent possible, the endoscope insertion tube should be maintained in an uncoiled, straightened condition when not in use, i.e. when being cleaned, disinfected, or stored.
Secondly, it is believed that the above-noted prior art disinfecting technique uses far more disinfecting liquid than is required to adequately disinfect an endoscope insertion tube. Thus, expensive disinfecting liquid is wasted resulting in significant cost ineffectiveness.
There is a need for a durable, low cost device that economically disinfects and efficiently stores one or more endoscopes in an uncoiled, straightened condition.